


M1 A1

by fisto



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, future graphic descriptions of animal death gore and suicide, individual chapters will have appropriate warnings at the beginning, you're a wizard gabriel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-01 18:56:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10927962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fisto/pseuds/fisto
Summary: When Gabriel finds himself alone in the middle of a Californian forest, he realizes his life was about to get really weird from here on out.[a modern fantasy au]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Out In The Big Wide Woods](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8312551) by [LegendaryBard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegendaryBard/pseuds/LegendaryBard). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title comes from the gorillaz song of the same name. not betaed, all mistakes are my own.

 

When Gabriel comes to, he has no idea what he's fucking doing. 

He's walking, which is simple enough really. Steady and methodical, one foot in front of the other, as he'd been doing his whole life. He's expertly avoiding any raised roots that he could trip on as he walks along the uneven terrain, putting his hand out to lean against trees as he makes his way up the incline of the hill he's been climbing. 

He's been climbing this hill because...? He doesn't experience many hills in L.A., being a flat desert city and all. Not like when he visited his brother in San Francisco, every place he went was on a fucking incline. He'd honestly expected his car's shitty brakes to finally give up the ghost and send his sad little Toyota barreling down a hill, but that didn't happen. 

He feels the sun warming his back, April in LA had erred on the side of higher temperatures this year than usual. Though, it feels like it’s always at least 80 degrees in LA, so he's not entirely positive this isn't normal.  

When he reaches the top of the hill, he's out of breath, like he'd been walking for hours. He only now noticed how dry his throat was, and desperately wished he had his water bottle with him. He distantly feels how sore his feet are, and the burning of his calves, but he pushes that to the back of his mind when he finally gains an awareness for his surroundings, and realizes he has no fucking idea where he was. 

It almost feels like someone dumping a bucket of ice water over his head, the fear that this realization shoots down his spine is sobering. 

All around him were trees, pines and cedars, and he sees that it wasn't a hill he'd been climbing, but a _mountain_. 

"What—what the fuck?" He gasps to himself. He's startled at how rough his voice sounds, like sandpaper, and the urge to find something to drink is almost overwhelming.  

Why... why was he here? What was going on? The last thing he remembers is leaving his apartment this morning, and from how the sun's positioned in the sky, it must be later in the afternoon already. 

Okay, body check. 

Ten fingers, ten toes. He still has both shoes, which is a relief, but his shitty checkered _Vans_ are hardly adequate for _hiking_. He has his wallet, his keys, and his phone, but the latter of which is dead. 

He curses, hoping for at least to use its GPS to find out where he actually is. 

His rarely parted beanie is on his head, as is his (current) favorite black hoodie. He's sweated through the cotton v-neck he was wearing, making him itch at his armpits.  

He's wearing shorts, and the dozens of new cuts and scrapes now adoring his legs makes him wince. What the hell did he do, walk through every bush on the way here? 

 _Okay, Ga_ _b_ _e_ _, breathe. Panicking will_ not _help you._  

He walked to the middle of some forest, for some reason that he can't remember. Right, that's fine. He'll deal with the fact that he's seemingly lost hours of his memory, and decided to go on a hike wearing shitty shoes and no water, _later_. Now he wants to get back to civilization as quickly as he can and have the resulting panic attack about this _later_. 

"Hello?!" He yells back down the mountain. "Is anyone there?!" His voice carries through the trees that surround him, echoing off the rocks surrounding him. He doesn't expect a response, or for anyone to hear him, but the silence around him is deafening. 

"Hello?!" He tries again, despite using his voice feels like rubbing sandpaper in his throat right now. "Is anyone here?! I need help!" 

Again, all that he gets in response is his own voice bouncing off the mountain walls until they fade into silence. 

It's getting dark, he realizes. The sun is beginning to set, the orange light illuminating beautifully throughout the trees. Gabriel always loved this time of day, he loved the orange glow LA would get as the sun dipped behind the horizon. As kids, he and his brother lived for these few precious hours. It was still bright enough where their mom wouldn't be expecting them to come home just yet, and the burst of energy they would get from the cooler air made them ride their bikes even harder, faster. He can’t recall the last time he ever experienced that feeling of freedom he got as he rode through his neighborhood as fast as he could, Edwin close behind, but he was always _faster_.  

God, what was he _doing_? Edwin has a wife and kid in San Francisco and he was lost in a godforsaken forest somewhere. He'll be 42 in October, and what did he have to show for it, except for his shitty apartment and suicidal tendencies? 

"Fuck," he says again.  

He starts climbing down the mountain the way he came, but he didn't realize it while he was climbing up how steep of an incline it really was. Shit, what if he died up here? Who would ever find him? His mom would look for him, right? She'd come up from San Diego and put up missing posters, or something. If he slipped and broke his leg up here, it was game over.  

He hopes something cool will eat his corpse. 

The sun sets completely by the time he makes it all the way down to the next stretch of even ground. 

He's miserable, he's tired. He kind of wants to die. His legs are killing him, and so are his feet. He can feel how raw the bottom of them are, and the newly forming blisters send a bolt of pain right up his leg every time he steps wrong. He's starving, his stomach hadn't stopped growling for at least forty minutes, and his throat has advanced from dry and scratchy to dryer than the Mojave from how dehydrated he was.  

He's lucky the moon is so bright tonight, or else he would of definitely would've ate shit and died falling down the side of the mountain without being able to see where he was going. Being constantly surrounded by nothing but trees is fucking with him, and he thinks he starts seeing shit that isn't there. 

He doesn't know what to do. It feels like he's been walking for hours and getting nowhere. He needs to rest and to get food, but honestly he doesn't have the first fucking clue about living off the land. He barely leaves LA, and he's only even left California _twice_. Any time he went camping or hiking, he always brought that kind of shit with him. 

He walks for thirty more minutes, until he just _can't_ anymore. 

He doesn't collapse to the ground, but it's a close thing. He find a rock large enough and leans his back against it, grateful for not being the only thing responsible for keeping him upright at the moment. Finally stopping after walking for hours with no food or water makes him heave up bile and saliva, and jerking his head to the side so he doesn't throw up on himself gives his neck whiplash. Groaning after he's spit out the last of it, he slumps his head back against the rock, and closes his eyes. 

He recluctically opens them again when he hears wings flapping above. Up on one of the trees' branches sits a white barn owl, its perfect round, black eyes bore into Gabriel. It looks almost ethereal sitting there, the moonlight backlighting makes the owl's snowy white feathers glow. 

Gabriel remembers being told that owls bring death and that even seeing one was an ill omen. This amuses him, since it seems his life has already gone to shit, and yet seeing the owl gives him a weird sense of peace. If this owl is here, then he's not truly alone, is he? 

The moment is broken when Gabriel flinches as the barn owl lets out an ear piercing screech before it flies off. Gabriel watches it go, until he can no longer see it against the night sky, and slumps back down against the rock. 

If that's not some sort of omen, then what is? 

It feels like it's hours later. He's been dozing on and off, never comfortable enough to drift off completely, when he feels something wet and cold press against his cheek, and it makes him feel like jumping out of his skin. He wants to scream, but all manages to get out is a croaking sound. Springing up like he wasn't just feeling like he was melting into the forest floor, he spins around to see what had touched him. 

What he wasn't expecting was... a dog?  

A dog looks up at him, its eyes wide and friendly, but Gabriel gets an uneasy feeling of intelligence in its gaze. It was a huge animal, its head was bulky and easily came up higher than Gabriel's hips. Its muzzle was long and pointed, its tongue lolling out of his mouth like he'd see dogs do when they stick their head out of a car window. 

The dog pads forward, its huge paws making indents in the ground below it, its claws flicking up dirt as it walks. He can't tell, the only source of lighting out here was the moon, but he thinks the dog's fur is an auburn brown color and slightly shaggy. He has no idea what kind of breed this dog could be, or if it was even a _dog_. 

Gabriel didn't realize he was backing up slightly until his back hit a tree. The dog catches up shortly, and sits down in front of him. It tilts its head quizzically at Gabriel, one of its ears points straight up and wobbles a bit while the other one stays flopped over. 

"Uh..." Gabriel rasps out. "Hey... boy?" 

The dog barks happily and stands again, tail wagging behind it like Gabriel had said something correct. 

"Uh..." He tries again. "Are you alone out here? Where's your... master?" 

The dog barks again as turns around in a circle where its standing and sits back down when it's facing Gabriel once again. 

"Um..."  

Gabriel startles a bit when the dog barks again, this time it's deep and loud, like a Rottweiler or something. Gabriel's almost afraid this is where the dog was going to jump and bite him, but it still sits there, staring at Gabriel like it wants him to do something. 

"What?" He says sharply, he's too tired to deal with this. "If you're lost too, fuck off. I have my own shit to worry about." 

As if it was an answer, the dog reaches out and tugs on the hem of his shorts with its teeth, and whines slightly. 

"Stop it!" He tries to lightly swipe at the dog with his hand to get it to let go of him, but stops when the dog starts to growl and makes no move to let go. 

"What do you want?" He sounds hysterical and he knows it, but he's alone and talking to a dog in the middle of nowhere. He feels like his brain has been leaking from his head for the past few hours, and he can feel a breakdown imminent. God, he just wants to go _home_.  

He begins to slide down the tree, folding up like a card table as he slumps back down onto the forest floor. 

The dog legs go of him then, and starts to whine. It tries to nudge Gabriel's hand, but he doesn't move. 

He's so _tired_ , he doesn't care anymore. His skin is burnt and blistered, and his feet and legs are bloody. The pounding in his head is making his nausea worse, and he's just _done_. 

He closes his eyes, and the last thing he sees before passing out is the dog running back into the trees.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel wakes up in a new place, meets a new face, and finds a Fighting Irish tee-shirt.

Gabriel wakes up, slowly, and groggily. His eyes are partially fused together with gunk, and his mouth feels both dry and slimy with sleep. 

Groaning, he moves to sit up, but the protest from his muscles forces him to lay back down.  

He's comfortable, for one, and that surprises him. Whatever he's laying on is soft and supports his lower back and he's covered in a thick, heavy blanket, which seems odd; he can usually only stand sleeping with a thin sheet at night. 

He takes several more minutes of waking up before he moves to sit up again. While still painful, he can feel the muscles in his calves clamp up, he manages to get his upper body vertical. 

He's _shocked_ when he realizes he wasn't in his bedroom.  

He's in a room he's never been in before, which is worrying. The décor around him reminds him a bit of a grandma, from the molding on the walls to the furniture dispersed around the room, but he's not sure that’s just because he associates old houses with old people. He's surprised to find none of it gross and dusty looking, and now that he's looking for it, the room looks well taken care of. Lived in. The curtains are open, allowing the room to be basked in natural light from the sun, illuminating the natural beauty of all the wood the room is made out of.

Probably one of the better places he's found himself waking up in, if he's honest.

Looking around, Gabriel finds next to him is a nightstand, covered in an assortment of clutter, not unlike what he has at home. He notices a tall glass of water sitting upon it, and chugs it in one go and he instantly wishes he had another. Near the door there's a small pile of shoes, mostly boots from what he can see, and a jacket flung over the backs of one the chairs. 

Is this the room of the person who found him?  

The bed he's in is a fancy four poster bed, and he realizes it wasn't the ceiling he thought he was looking at when he awoke, but a deep blue canopy enveloping the bed. 

He's always has kind of a fantasy about these beds, particularly one involving scarves and someone enthusiastically at his mercy, but— 

This is _not_ the time to be thinking about that. 

On the other far side of a room resides a fireplace, but it looks like it hasn’t been used in years. There's a clock on the mantle, its ticking can be heard from where he is, but it's too far away for him to read. In front of the fireplace is a small coffee table, and Gabriel reactively makes an annoyed noise when he sees coffee mug rings all over its surface.

_You have this nice fuckin' house, but you're not going to use a coaster? Unbelieveable._

Swinging his legs out from under the covers is a bit of a hassle, from his muscles crying out and the thick quilt that was covering him bunching up awkwardly, but he manages it. 

He sits on the edge of the bed, not trusting his legs to support his weight just yet. The previous day comes back to him in fast waves, starting from the terror he felt when he realized how fucked he was all the way to when the dog had found him. 

What the hell happened to him? Last he remembered, he fell asleep on the cold forest floor. Did that dog actually get someone to help him? Is this a weird dream he was having as he thrashed around somewhere in the middle of nowhere? 

He pinches himself, just in case, and doesn't know if it's relief he feels when it hurts. 

Before he can sit and contemplate some more, he freezes there's a soft rapping of knuckles at the bedroom door. 

It opens, and in pokes a head of a woman. When she looks and sees him, her face has a brief moment of surprise before a kind smile paints her face. "Ah, good, you're awake." She says with a slight accent as she opens the door all the way and steps inside. 

She doesn't make her way towards him, and instead stands in the door's frame. She's a woman of average height, he supposes. Her frame is mostly disguised from the thick sweater and the cardigan she's wearing, though loose and almost hanging off of her. She's wearing a bright blue headscarf, a hijab he thinks they're called? He can see some of her hair, a deep black but has the beginnings of grays streaking through it as it falls across her face and obscures one of her eyes.  

She looks nice enough, Gabriel supposes, but he's not feeling entirely trusting right now, nice looking ladies or no. 

"Where am I?" he asks. Seems like a good first question. 

"You are in my home." She answers. "My name is Ana. Jesse found you in the woods, but you were delirious. He took you back here to get help for you, and you are safe." 

She walks towards him steadily, but minds to make sure she's still a good few feet away from him, as if to purposely give him distance. Gabriel can now see that she's wearing an eyepatch over her right eye, while her left has a tattoo underneath. "How are you feeling, mister...?" 

"Reyes." He answers before he turns to clear his throat. "But Gabriel is fine. And I feel like shit." He says bluntly, but some of his edginess melts when he hears her chuckle. "How long was I out for?" 

She contemplates before replying. "A whole day now at least, I believe. Jesse brought you to me early yesterday morning, and it's half-til-eight now." She walks over to the window and draws the curtain all the way to let more light in, basking in the morning sun. She sighs, "You must be starving, I'll get you something to eat." She turns to walk of the room, and Gabriel feels the need to keep her from leaving so quickly.

"Wait!" Gabriel blurts out before thinking, and she looks surprised when she turns to look at him. "The dog?" He asks, stupidly.  

"The dog?" She repeats. 

"Yeah." Gabriel says as he licks his lips, he could really use another glass of water. "There was a dog who found me? Was that this Jesse guy's dog?" He didn't hallucinate the whole thing, did he? 

He thinks about the owl he saw, too. 

He's not going to mention that to Ana.

Ana looks dumbfounded for a second, before a smile breaks out on her face and she laughs. "Ah, _that_ dog." She turns to leave again as she snickers. "You'll have to ask Jesse about that after breakfast."  

She walks out the door, and Gabriel almost flops back down on the bed when she pokes her head back in. "By the way, the door to the bathroom is behind you. Feel free to use the shower and anything you need. Also," she points to a dresser sitting near the end of the bed. "There should be something for you to wear in there. You're about the same size as Jack, but if nothing fits, let me know." She then ducks back outside the room and closes the door behind her, leaving Gabriel alone once again. 

He doesn't get up immediately, he's still fairly freaked out if he's honest, but he's sick of being in bed any longer and moves to get up. 

He's surprised when he finds his legs supporting his weight better than he expected, and when he looks down he's relieved he's still in his own clothes. He did not want to spend breakfast sitting across from a woman that he knew had undressed him while he was unconscious, no matter how noble the intentions.  

_Yeah, no._

Grabbing the glass off the nightstand, he goes to the door Ana said lead to the bathroom. The whole bathroom looks fairly modern, or at least it was recently updated in the last decade. Toilet, sink, there's a stack of towels on a hamper. 

Immediately going to the sink, he takes the glass and fills it up, drinking until he gets an uncomfortable sloshing in his stomach.

Satisfied, he sets the glass down and braves looking at himself in the mirror.

Christ, he looks like he feels.

His hair's greasy as hell and he has a bad case of bedhead, his hair is sticking up in all sorts of odd angles. His eyes are bloodshot, and the bags that have taken up permanent residence under his eyes look bruised and swollen.

_Pretty as a fuckin' picture, Reyes._

It takes him a minute, but soon he figures out how the shower works, and he starts getting undressed as he waits for the water to get warmer.  

My God, he smells like shit. He starts to feel a little guilty, having been in some stranger's bed all day smelling like hot garbage.  

Stepping inside the shower he practically melts under the hot stream of water. It feels _amazing,_ and Gabriel immediately grabs a bottle of soap from the shower caddy and starts scrubbing. He starts at his head and works his way down to his feet. His ministrations from cleaning himself gets him half hard, but he's ignoring it. He's not going to jerk off in Ana's house if he can fuckin' help it, even if he slightly feels like he's floating. 

He starts to doze off as the hot stream of water beats down on the top of his head. He could stand here forever, he thinks, or at least until he uses up all the hot water. He's startled out of his trance when he hears a loud thump somewhere on the other side of the shower wall, followed by loud yelling from two male voices. He can't understand what either of them are saying so Gabriel quickly shuts the water off, straining his ears to hear if anything escalates.

Nothing happens, the drip of the faucet and his own breathing are the only things he hears. 

He grabs one of the towels and wraps it around his waist after rubbing his hair dry. He needs to shave it off, he thinks; the curls are deceptively long. He tugs on one strand and grumbles about how it reaches almost all the way past his nose at full length. He wishes he had a razor and a toothbrush, but he's uncomfortable at the prospect of using a stranger's.

Poking his head outside the bathroom door, Gabriel's relieved to find the room completely unchanged from how he left it. Tentatively stepping out of the bathroom with his clothes in hand, he makes his way back towards the bed. 

He dumps his clothes on the floor as he goes over to inspect the dresser Ana pointed out to him earlier. The dresser itself is fairly unremarkable, and only has more clutter on top, so he goes to open the top drawer. In it is a couple of stacks of folded shirts, and Gabriel reaches in to grab one. 

The first one he grabs turns out to be a shirt with the words "HOUSE OF PAIN" and "FIGHTING IRISH" written on it and Gabriel snorts, the slightly faded Irish caricature adoring the front of the shirt certainly _does_ look like it's gunning for a fight. He flips the shirt around to read the back, "Notre Dame, huh?" The shirt is personalized, MORRISON in cracked white letters screen-printed on the back, indicating of its age and just how many times it's been worn.

He folds and puts that shirt back into the drawer, not feeling like walking around with an angry looking leprechaun looking motherfucker on his chest all day. He looks again and instead finds a plain white cotton shirt that looks his size. 

It's a bit tighter than he usually wears, but he's satisfied with his shirt choice. Moving on to the drawer below that one, he finds it to be considerably more bare. All he can find is a couple of ratty pairs of jeans and a pair of black sweatpants. He grabs the sweats and immediately puts them on.  

He considered the implications of freeballing in another man's pants, but he doesn't really have a choice. He gave a thought to just putting his boxers back on, but the idea makes his skin crawl. 

After he's dressed he hears knocking at the door.  

"Gabriel?" It's Ana. "Breakfast is in five! I'll warn you that it goes quick, so you better come early!" She laughs warmly and Gabriel can hear her footfalls as she walks back down the hallway. 

Right, he still has a house of people to deal with. He feels like an asshole, Ana at least has been nothing but accommodating to him, but he's just ready for this adventure to be over. 

 _You'll survive breakfast, Reyes._  

Taking a deep breath, he squares his shoulders, and goes out into the hallway. 

Besides, he's fucking starving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading this far! i've just finished writing chapter 5 of this, so i'll hopefully be putting out the next chapter soon. hope you stick around!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While breakfast could've gone better, but he does end up making it out alive.

His confidence builds a bit as he walks down the hallway. The rest of the house, far as he can tell, is decorated similarly to the room he's staying in. He glances at the photos hung on the walls as he walks past, most of them are old black and white portraits. None truly capture his attention, except for one that has such a dead stare it must be a corpse, so he keeps walking.  

He appreciates creepy décor. He has an avian skull collection that he's pretty proud of, despite no one in his life understanding why he would bother collecting something so macabre. He snorts to himself, thinking of how his mother always expressed deep resentment to all the dead things he's taken to collecting over the years. He still has that box full of dead things in jars that he needs to get shelves for, and that stuffed pigeon to get mounted to his wall. He's lived in his current apartment for over a year, but he never bothered decorating it. 

Shaking his head, Gabriel goes downstairs. More portraits decorates the walls as he makes his way to what he assumes is the kitchen, a couple he notices are now in color, but he ignores all of them. He does make note of the growing amount of potted plants that seem to take up the downstairs. Some are hanging from the ceiling, some are on their own tables, some crowd the corners of the rooms he passes. 

Gabriel doesn’t get it. He can see outside the windows that there's already plants fuckin' everywhere, why have more _inside_? 

Following the smell of breakfast makes his stomach growl, but he successfully finds the kitchen. Ana is sitting at a breakfast table next to a window, which of course has plants on it. Sitting next to her is a man with a dark undercut who has a mug of something steaming between his hands. He seems to be paying more attention to the final person in the room, a tall man wearing a cowboy hat who's talking animatedly in front of a stove as he stacks pancakes on a plate. 

Ana looks up and catches Gabriel's eyes before she smiles. "Look who's up! Come, come, sit!"  

She pulls out the chair next to her, an obvious invitation. The man next to her finally looks up at him, blinking owlishly as he watches Gabriel take his seat. Gabriel nods at him in greeting, and he nods back.

Man of few words, he can relate.

The cowboy at the stove twirls around, spatula still in his grip, as he grins. "Aw hell, we had a bet goin' on when you'd finally join the living!" He practically yells. His voice sounds like he walked out of a shitty Western.

Gabriel bristles at that, not appreciating being made into a _joke._

Ana scoffs a bit, but Gabriel can hear the affection in it. "Jesse, please, he's a guest."

Finally, a face to put a name to. "You Jesse?" He asks. 

A "Yessir!" is what he gets in reply. Jesse walks over, and Gabriel hears the spurs on his boots before he sees them, and he places the plate full of pancakes down on the table. "Jesse, Jesse McCree. Pleasure to formally meet you!" Jesse puts his hand out to shake, and Gabriel finds himself taking it. 

"Gabriel." He says, then coughs into his shoulder awkwardly. Fuck, he was always so bad at thanking or apologizing to people, but he knows it's necessary. "Thanks... for finding me out there. I was in a bad way." 

"I'll say!" Jesse goes to sit next to the other man at the table, despite the several other empty chairs he could've taken. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing out there? There's nothin' for miles!" Jesse goes and helps himself to the assortment of breakfast foods spread across the table. He didn't notice Ana already began eating, a little bit of everything already on her plate.  

Gabriel doesn't know how to answer this. He already feels like an idiot being out there in the first place, how does he talk about this without sounding completely off his rocker? Instead of saying anything, he decides to start plating himself food. Luckily, there's an abundance, so he doesn't feel guilty taking bigger portions. He can't remember the last time he ate, and his stomach growls impatiently. 

"Jesse, I doubt he wants to talk about this over pancakes." The mystery man finally speaks. He still only has his mug in front of him, and doesn't seem to bother with any of the food. 

Jesse scoffs a bit as he begins taking huge bites of his own. "Like you aren't as curious as the rest of us, Hanzo." 

"I just have the tact to not ask potentially upsetting questions at the breakfast table." The man, Hanzo, says cooly.

"Oh, yeah, you have fuckin' tact alright—" 

"Jesse!" Ana interrupts him, and Jesse has the mind to look sorry. Ana looks over at him apologetically, "I'm sorry, Gabriel. You don't have to tell us anything you're not comfortable sharing, we're just all relieved you're okay." 

"I... Okay." Gabriel awkwardly shrugs, but he's thankful to not have to talk about it anyway. 

There's a slightly uncomfortable lull in conversation as everyone but Hanzo eats. Gabriel wonders why he's even sitting at the table if he has no intention to partake in the meal, but he figures it's not his place to make assumptions. Maybe he just likes the company. 

As he tries to ignore the awkward energy at the table, he focuses on filling his stomach as much as he responsibly can. There's pancakes, hash browns, toast, OJ, and a type of meat he's not entirely familiar with.  

He hopes it's something like rabbit and not something like, let's say, _people_. 

A minute goes by before Ana begins speaking. "Hanzo, is Genji not coming to breakfast?" 

Hanzo frowns and makes a show of taking a long drink from his mug. While Jesse starts to snicker next to him, Ana patiently sits and waits for his answer.  

"No." Hanzo simply says. When he does not continue, Jesse does. 

"They had an argument, over somethin' stupid and, hey!" He points a finger at Hanzo when Hanzo turns to glare at him. "Don't deny it wasn't, babe. Is that what y'all fought about when you were kids?" 

Hanzo's grip on his mug makes Gabriel worried that it might crack. "Jesse," Hanzo hisses. "Shut up." 

They hold their stare for a beat, but Jesse relents easily enough. "Alright, alright!" He drawls as he sinks lower down in his chair. "But to answer your question: no, Ana. Genji's going to go "live his own truth" and decided to go live up in the mountains now."  

Ana laughs, and Gabriel has a hard time hiding his smile. This sounds like some melodramatic shit he would of tried to pull off in his 20s. 

"So, when shall we expect him to be back?" Ana asks, amusement still in her voice. 

"Hmm, maybe a week, give or take a day." He contemplates before he finishes off the last of his huge glass of orange juice and the rest of his food. He makes an over-exaggerated "aah!" sound as he finishes, and grabs his plate and glass as he stands up. "Well, we 'ought to get a move on." Hanzo stands as well to follow him. 

Both excitement and terror shoots through Gabriel's gut. They're leaving? Could they take him back to civilization?  

Ana finished eating, and she leans back in her chair, her expression slightly annoyed. "It's not necessary, you know."  

"Where are they going?" Gabriel decides to bite the bullet and ask. Getting home is still his number one priority, and he's at the point where he'll walk back if you just pointed him in the right direction. 

"Vamps!" Jesse tells him. "Gotta go flush out those vamps, don't like 'em close. Not the kind that fuckin' growls at ya, anyway." He mumbles that last part as he sets his dishes in the sink before turning around and leaving the kitchen with Hanzo following close behind. 

Gabriel sits there and blinks few times, as if that'd make the shit Jesse just say make any more sense. He spins in his chair to look at Ana, who has a look of displeasure on her face. He hears her harshly say _brat_  under her breath.

"What the fuck?" Gabriel blurted. She's purposely not looking in Gabriel's eyes, which is freaking him out. "He's joking, right? Are they headed close to a city? Look, I really appreciate all you've done for me, but fuck, Ana, I really want to go home."

Ana still doesn't answer him, and rubs her face like she's having to make a decision she doesn't want to make. 

Gabriel stands and puts as much distance in between them as he can in the kitchen, the sudden revelation of paranoia almost makes him want to throw up all the food he just ate. He doesn't want to make her angry, especially since both Jesse and Hanzo were still in the house. While Gabriel wasn't someone to fuck with normally, Jesse and Hanzo could together could easily drop his ass at the moment.  

Fuck, _fuck_. He fucking did it, look at him. They’re gonna murder him, and Jesse's gonna cook his body and they're gonna eat him. Shit, that weird meat he ate _definitely_ was human. Is this all part of some fucked up game? 

"Gabriel, please, do not panic. You are safe, and we are here to help." Ana says assuredly, like she's placating a wild animal. He kinda feels like one. 

"Help? Look, take me back to LA, please." Gabriel pleads. 

Ana looks genuinely upset when she answers, "We can't, at least not right now. Believe me, if we had the option, we would of taken you to a hospital and not back here." 

"Why didn't you?" Gabriel demands. "Ana, please, my life has been so fucking weird these past few days. Just tell me straight." 

Ana doesn't reply immediately, and Gabriel tries to be patient but he's really getting into the end of his rope here. 

After what feels like hours, Ana finally begins speaking. "Gabriel, you deserve the truth, but first I must ask;" she starts. "Do you believe in magic?" 

"Magic?" Gabriel asks dubiously. "Look, do you have a car or something I could borrow?" 

"It was a yes or no question." Ana says sharply. "Yes or no?" 

"No!" Gabriel exclaims. "No, I do not!" 

"Why?" Ana challenges, and Gabriel wants to start _laughing,_ this shit is so ridiculous.

"Because I'm not a fucking child? Are you kidding me?"

Ana stands to walk over to the front of the table and leans against it, staring directly at him. Gabriel knows Ana's not fucking around with him anymore, and probably never was. 

"Why do you think you're here?" She asks, and Gabriel actually _does_ laugh. 

"You brought me here, or Jesse did. I didn't ask to be here!" He's trying _very_ hard to not raise his voice, but Ana's not _listening_ to him.

"That did not answer my question." She shoots back. "Why do you think you are here, in my home, located in a forest 80 miles away from LA?" 

Gabriel balks at this. 80 miles? No fucking way. 

"I walked here!" He hysterically exclaims, and he sounds crazy even to his own ears. 

"Gabriel, no you didn't." Ana argues. "Your feet were blistered and your legs looked like a scratching post, but you did not walk here."  

Actually, now that Gabriel's reminded of it, he didn't notice any scars on his legs or pain in his feet when he was in the shower. He remembers pretty clear how covered In blood his legs were, and he definitely had a sunburn by the time the sun actually set.  

Physically? He's completely fine, and he knows he simply _shouldn_ _'t_ be. 

"I..." He's at a loss of words. 

"Gabriel," Ana begins. Her voice is soft and sympathetic, she reminds him a bit of his mom. "Magic is real." She says, quite simply. 

"No, it isn't." Gabriel tries to argue, but even to him his conviction is shit. He hates to admit this, but for some reason, he's been waiting to hear those words his entire fucking life. There's something about realizing that magic exists fills Gabriel with such a feeling of understanding. A lot of weird shit has happened in his life, most of it he has no real explanation for. He chalked it up to being a weird kid, fuck, he's a weird adult, but even he always knew there something _more_.

"What—what does this mean?" He asks. "Are you magic, am I magic? Are Jesse and Hanzo magic?"

Ana looks at him, and Gabriel looks away when she gives him a sad smile. "Yes," She answers not unkindly, "you've known this."

"Fuck," is all Gabriel can say.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel and Ana talk some more, and Gabriel remembers how to do a cool trick.

Gabriel sits on the kitchen floor for close to an hour. During this time, Gabriel hears Jesse and Hanzo leave, to go hunt _vamps_ apparently, and Ana comes over and sits next to him on the floor. They've been completely silent, and Gabriel thinks he would of forgotten if she was there if she didn't shift positions every once in awhile.

So, magic's real. That's cool.

He realizes he should probably ask for proof, but for some reason, Gabriel feels like he's always known this and has just—forgot. A lot of shit makes more sense now, that's for damn sure.

But, still.

"Show me," he demands. Ana looks up at him surprised, and tilts her head inquisitively before she nods, understanding.

Inside of her sweater's pocket she pulls out a packet of seeds. She pours some out into her hand, and shuffles them a but until they’re properly cupped within her palms.  She then brings her hands up to her face, being careful to not let any of the seeds fall out onto the floor, and begins to breathe on them.

Gabriel's about to ask her what the fuck she's doing until the vines started to peek out through her fingers along with a warm light. After she takes a second breath, a strawberry plant begins to burst out through her fingers.

Gabriel jumps back, eyes wide, but he’s completely enraptured by what Ana was doing.

Ana stops breathing on the plant after it's grown too large to be comfortably held, but seems satisfied with her work. "It's not the best way to grow strawberries, I assure you, but it is quick." She plucks one of the strawberries off the plant and pops it in her mouth, making a content humming noise as she does so.

She unceremoniously dumps the plant on the ground. It's a bright green, has a fully formed root system despite being grown in someone's hands, and he can see the bright red of beautiful, perfectly ripe strawberries nestled within.

Gabriel stares at it, not wanting to believe what he's seeing but he knows what he saw was real.

Holy shit, he thinks.

"Holy shit." He says it out loud, for good measure.

Ana smirks at him, though it's not unkind. "See? I told you." She stands up and offers her hand out for Gabriel to take. He does, reluctantly, as he stands.

"I—”

"And no, you're not hallucinating." Ana interrupts, she has a habit of doing that. "Or crazy, or _dead_ , or what have you. You're just magic, and it's as simple as that."

He can't help but laugh at that. "Just magic, huh? Me, a fourty-two year old man, is suddenly just _magic_."

"I believe so, yes." Ana agrees, "Jesse was already 20 when he first realized he was _magic_ , so you're not the only late bloomer." While she sounds clearly amused, Gabriel gets the feeling that she was also proud.

Proud of what exactly? Gabriel isn't sure; he had a panic attack on this woman’s kitchen floor for almost an hour.

Ana gently guides him back to the breakfast table, and unspokenly asks him to sit back down. He takes the seat he sat at during breakfast, and he realizes everything was already put away without him noticing. Weird, but as he's now rationalizing to himself, duh, _magic_.

Ana sits across from him so they can look at one another as they talk. She seems to be waiting for Gabriel to begin, so Gabriel does.

"What else can you do?"

"Many things, but I'm mostly an alchemist by trade. The plants are a large part of this, if you haven't noticed them." He did.

"But you breathed on those seeds? What was that?" He's still replaying that plant suddenly bursting in size over and over again in his head. The mere seconds it took for those seeds to become a fruit-bearing plant wasn’t anything short of amazing.

"I can heal people, as I did for you. Once you get the hang of it, magic can be easy to manipulate into doing what you want." She answers as she reaches over to check the leaves of one of her mentioned plants. Gabriel swears the plant actually moves into her touch.

"I simply... Breathed life into them." She smiles at her own wording, and Gabriel can't help but roll his eyes. "Let me ask you a question; how did you get so far away from LA?"

"I teleported." He says, as if he always known. "I remember now. I teleported from my apartment into the middle of Sombra's living room and scared the shit out of her. Then I teleported all over, and I found myself in the middle of nowhere on accident. I had to start walking, since I couldn't do it anymore, I—" He stops himself, trying to comprehend his own words and what they mean.

"I was doing it for hours, and then I somehow forgot? What the hell?" Looking up at Ana for answers, and to his relief and dismay, she's nodding.

"Jesse was similar. He once woke up at the humane society without any idea how he got there. The staff was terrified when they realized a man was locked up in one of their kennels come morning." She starts to chuckle as she's telling the story, but her expression grows more serious as she continues. "It must be a side effect of you two realizing your talents later in life and without any guidance through it; a temporary amnesia, I believe. I'm sorry you had to go through that alone, it must of been quite terrifying."

 _Yeah, no shit,_ he thinks, but he's not gonna say that to her.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, and Gabriel’s thrilled that it's not entirely uncomfortable.

But, shit, he really freaked Sombra out, he remembers with a smile. Fucking deserves it, as far as he's concerned. It's not that he disliked Sombra, but he can't say he particularly _likes_ her either. She's his overly nosy neighbor, and takes great pleasure in digging up every little thing about him. He doesn't get why she does it, he has nothing to hide. He didn't kill for the government, have a secret family, or was even into anything _that_ kinky. He honestly doesn't know what she's looking for, or what she would even get out of it, but he's opted into just letting her get her rocks off doing whatever if it gets her to become bored and leave him alone.

Well, he guesses now Sombra finally got the big mystery in his life she was searching for. Damn, maybe he shouldn't of popped in like that. He can only imagine what she’s going to be like when he finally gets home. Obnoxious, probably.

While he was reminiscing, Ana had gotten up and started to make herself a cup of tea. Gabriel has a feeling she was the type of person who couldn't sit still unless they had something to do.

“What do you do for a living, Gabriel?” Ana politely asks, but she starts to worry when Gabriel makes a pained face. Shit, he forgot about _work_.

“I manage security at a bank downtown.” He tries to say as steady as he can, but his tone still makes Ana take on a more worried expression.

Backpedaling a bit, Gabriel says quickly, “My job isn’t bad! It’s pays pretty good but…” Shrugging a bit, he goes quiet again.

His job _isn’t_ actually that bad, but there’s just something about it that’s so soul-sucking. Gabriel snorts, maybe Lacroix was actually a vampire and was literally bleeding them all dry.

They fall into another silence, but there’s still another question burning in his mind.

"So," he starts slowly, "how am I going to get home?"

Ana takes a dainty sip from her rose decorated teacup before setting it next to her on the counter as she replies.

"Jack and Fareeha, that's my daughter, go to Bakersfield every few weeks to get supplies, and to let Fareeha run around on her own without me watching her." She smiles fondly as she mentions her daughter. "They should be home this evening, presuming if they're still on schedule."

Hearing Bakersfield has Gabriel frown, he’s never heard a good thing about that place.

"So this Jack guy, will he be able to take me back to LA?" he asks. How many men live in this house, exactly? Jesse, Hanzo and his missing brother, and now this Jack? Shit, isn't it his room Gabriel's staying in? The guy's whose clothes he's currently wearing? Gabriel's not entirely sure how he'd react if some stranger was suddenly wearing his clothes and sleeping in his bed after he was away from home, but it probably wouldn’t be great.

Ana hums, nodding her head as she goes to take another sip of her tea. "Yes, but he'll probably want to rest first before he takes you, I hope you understand. I'm sorry, I know you're eager to get home, but you're welcome to stay here for as long as you wish." Ana finishes saying as she looks at him with something like hope in her eyes.

Gabriel rubs his face absentmindedly, contemplating her words. He's kinda burnt out, if he's being honest. His thoughts are running a thousand miles per hour, and the prospect of going back home doesn't fill him with the sense of longing as it did earlier, even if he still has a job to get back to. Now it's more like dread, and he just kind of wishes he was back in bed.

Before he realizes it was happening, his vision starts to fade, and it sounds like his head was underwater. He hears a loud sound as suddenly he was back on the bed he woke up this morning

"What the fuck!" He's yelling as he flails, the covers on the bed bunching up awkwardly around him from his movement. Did he—no fucking way!

"Ana?!" He yells as he ducks towards the bedroom door to swing open it as he hears Ana yell from downstairs. "Gabriel?!"

He runs through the door and back to the stairs and sees Ana already at the bottom, gripping the guardrail as she started to climb up the steps.

"I teleported!" He says smartly. "Holy shit!"

"Holy shit!" Ana echos, and she's grinning as wide as he is. "You're magic, Gabriel!"

He can help but laugh, the grin he's wearing is making his face hurt, because he guesses she's right.

Shit, Gabriel's _magic_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're a wizard, Gabriel.

 Gabriel spends the next several minutes teleporting short distances in the house, much to the delight of Ana. He's finding it's easier now, only having to concentrate for a second before he finds himself immediately in the spot he’d imagined himself being.

He has to take a break shortly after starting, the pounding in his skull from when he was in the woods returns, but it's not nearly as unbearable.

As they go to sit down in the living room to rest, Gabriel shocked for a second when he sees an old CRT TV sitting in the corner. Ana admits it's mostly for movies or Genji's video games, but still. How do they even get cable all the way out here?

The plants have invaded this part of the house as well. He doesn't know anything about botany, but some of the flowers do seem slightly... _e_ _nchanting_. There's a fireplace in this room as well, and Gabriel goes to take a peek at the photos lining the mantle as Ana tidies the sitting space up a bit.

Most of them are of a young girl with short cropped black hair. Fareeha, Gabriel muses. Some are of Fareeha by herself, but others has a giant blonde man holding onto her, grinning hugely at the camera. Gabriel cracks a smile a bit, the man's grin is infectious, but he goes to move on to look at the rest of the pictures.

One catches his attention in particular; a loose photo leaning particularly against the mantelpiece. It's of a young Ana, Gabriel realizes, recognizing her tattoo below her eye, with a beautiful smile on her face. With her is a blonde man, different from the other guy with Fareeha, who’s also grinning.

Gabriel is instantly attracted to him, God dammit, but he's Gabriel's type, and it's been awhile. His hair is a golden blonde and shining in the sun the photo is taken in, and his eyes are a bright blue that matches the sky above them. He's wearing a royal blue graduation gown and cap, a degree of some sort clutched tightly in hand.

"Who's this?" Gabriel asks as he turns to Ana, who's perching herself down onto the couch and gets comfortable. In lieu of an answer, she reaches her hand out to him, silently asking for the photo.

Gabriel grabs the picture, careful to not accidentally bend it, and hands it to her as he goes to sit down.

"Ah," Ana says as she finally looks at the picture. "This was when Jack got his master's. I was so proud, he always pushes himself so hard."

Gabriel's eyebrows shoot to his hairline. " _That_ 's Jack?" He blurts out, not intending for it to sound so accusatory. It's just... He slept his this guy's _bed._

"That is Jack." Ana's grin is nothing short of devious. "He's still this handsome, don't worry. You'll meet him tonight." Ana just grins wider when Gabriel sputters a bit, trying to convince her that's not what he _meant_ , but he thinks he fails.

She chuckles as she hands him back the photo, Gabriel making a point not to stare at Jack any longer than necessary as he puts the picture back on the mantle. "That photo makes me feel so old. I can’t believe that was already 15 years ago."

Gabriel hums in acknowledgement. “Have you know Jack for a long time?”

“Oh, yes,” Ana says fondly. “We met when we were teenagers, our fathers were apart of the same guild of alchemical farmers. Jack and I would end up getting dragged along to conventions and we would go find trouble.” She’s smirking puckishly, her eyes telling that it was probably more than _just_ trouble.

"It's just quite curious," Ana says with a glint in her eye. "Usually, when someone's magic manifests for the first time, it's an indicator of what kind of magician they will be. I wonder what else you'll learn; I bet Jack would know."

Gabriel snorts. "So, are you all wizard and witches in this house, or do you got a normie around here that I don't know about?"

"Oh, no," Ana goes to elaborate. "Jack's a wizard; I'm a sorceress, as is Fareeha. Jesse's a shapeshifter, as are Hanzo and Genji, but their breed of shapeshifting is completely different from Jesse's."

Great, now shapeshifters are now apart of the equation. "So that dog that found me...?"

Ana lifts up another cup a tea that just seem to appear, and takes a sip to hide her sly, knowing smirk. "I wouldn't of been lying if I said yes when you asked if it was Jesse's dog, but that's not entirely true either, isn't?"

"Huh." Is all Gabriel can really voice on the matter. When he does think about it, that dog and Jesse did have striking similarities. He feels embarrassment when he remembers how delirious he was when the dog found him initially, but then he recalls back to when Ana said Jesse once woke up in a _kennel_.

"So what's the difference, between wizards and sorceresses or whatever?" he questions. "What makes Jack a wizard but you not?"

"Well," Ana starts, and she stares up at the ceiling as she contemplates his question. "It's mostly semantics, but there are differences with how our magic manifests. I was born with it, as was my daughter, but Jack wasn't. I have a feeling you'll learn the most from him, honestly. He's certainly has dedicated much more of his life to learning magic than I have, as I've never known life without it." She bites her lip as she thinks about her next sentence. "That is of course, you wish to learn. I don't want to make assumptions on your behalf."

"I..." He starts, but doesn't finish. Shit, did he want to learn? Yes, absolutely, but would this be like going back to school again? He didn't have a great time his first time around, but he can't imagine learning magic would be anything he's ever experienced.

"You don't have to decide now, obviously." Ana adds after Gabriel doesn’t say anything. "This is a lot of take in at once, so don't feel like you have to rush through it all."

Gabriel doesn't say anything as he sits and thinks. This _was_ a lot to take in at once, even when he felt like he expected a lot of it, but still.

According to the VCR's clock, and Gabriel hasn't seen a VCR in _years_ , they ended up sitting and bullshitting for about three hours. Ana typically kept it to the subject of family after he kind of clamped up talking more about his magical future, and he's thankful, since Gabriel has a lot to say about his family. It grounds him to talk about them, especially about his mother, and Gabriel promises himself he's going to call her as soon as he gets cell reception.

Ana tells him about her daughter, Fareeha, who's turning 16 this year. She's taking a break from regular high school, and is instead being home schooled in the meantime. She's learning how to manipulate the magic inside of her, but that's difficult when you also have the stress and nuisances high school can give you, too.

The sun is beginning to set when he and Ana hear the front door open and close. "Hello, hello, hello!" Jesse's voice calls from the entrance.

"In here!" Ana yells back, followed shortly by Jesse and Hanzo walking into the living room. Gabriel notes their outfit changes from this morning, as both of them are now sporting fairly more intimidating looks.

Jesse's dumb hat is still on his head, but he's now wearing light protective armor, covered by a bright red _serape_. This guy is really trying to push this whole cowboy thing, if the tan leather chaps covering his legs are anything to go by. He still has his spurs on, but unlike before they don’t make the telltale _clink, clink, clink_ sounds.

Hanzo's dressed more practically. The black leather jacket he's wearing is well worn, and unlike Jesse, he only has protective armor covering his legs.

Ana notices before he does, and her eyes widen in surprise. "Hanzo! What happened?"

She's up and moving before Gabriel can figure out what she's talking about, but when Hanzo lifts his right hand Gabriel can see the blood soaked bandage he was gripping.

Hanzo winces as Ana manipulates his hand and removes the bandage to assess the wound. "My bowstring snapped as I was not paying attention." He glares at Jesse, who only gives him a wink and a finger gun in return. "A novice mistake," he hisses out in pain as Ana lets go of his hand. "But it'll heal."

Ana rolls her eyes at their antics, “Completely worth harassing a couple of undead, I’m sure.”

“They’re were gonna be a problem one day!” Jesse argues before scoffing. “Any vamp that lives alone in the woods is bad news, that’s just common sense.” He crosses his arms, as if to convey he wasn’t going to listen to any further argument.

Right, vampires. Maybe his boss _was_ a vampire, come to think of it. He always found it weird how many employees work there after-hours.

Ana doesn’t reply to Jesse, and insteads exchanges a few more words with Hanzo before she leaves the living room and Hanzo goes to follow.

After they leave, Jesse moseys on over to Gabriel and leans over the back of one of the chairs, popping his hip like he's leaning casually against a bar. He’s smirking, the pompous asshole. Jesse _has_ to be in his late twenties, at least, but he acts like an immature punk.

"Aren't you going to go help your boyfriend?" Gabriel snaps at him, not liking the shit eating grin on Jesse's face.

"Hanzo ain't my boyfriend." Jesse corrects, his voice smooth and collected. "Jus' wonderin', is all. Did Ana..." He trails off as if he’s padding out the tension, "Fill ya in?" He finishes cheekily, and even has the nerve to wink.

Gabriel resists letting out his most sarcastic snort. Gabriel's knocked a lot of guys flat on their asses for the dumb shit they've said to him before, but he’s got a better idea.

Completely deadpan he says, "I got no idea what you're talking about, Jesse." And like he's done dozens of times already _today_ , he imagines the spot behind where Jesse is leaning against and…

_Pop!_

When he reappears, he's staring right at Jesse's back, who jerks in surprise. He exclaims a "Jesus Christ!" as Gabriel sweeps Jesse’s legs out from under him with his foot, sending him momentarily falling to the ground before Jesse scrambles to hold onto the chair for dear life. Luckily the chair doesn’t topple over with him.

Gabriel's got the cruelest grin when Jesse rights himself and spins around, eyebrows shot up on his forehead and mouth gaping at him.

"So you're gonna have you specify, kid.” He makes sure to fully enunciate the _kid_. “Fill me in on _what_?"

Jesse still looks just as shocked as he realizes what Gabriel did, his face starts turning a bright red in the resulting embarrassment.

Still grinning, Gabriel turns to walk down the hallway he saw Ana and Hanzo disappear into. Let him sit on that for a bit, Gabriel muses.

He finds Ana and Hanzo shortly enough, tucked away into a small room in the back of the house.

They're sitting at a small table in the center of the room. There's a bowl of water on the table that Hanzo has his hand hovering above, Ana's holding a pair of tweezers, delicately removing apparent debris and such from Hanzo's wound. Hanzo's face is as neutral as ever, his eyes closed as Ana works on cleaning out his hand.

Apparently satisfied, Ana nods once affirming, and pours a small cup of water from the bowl over Hanzo's wound.

The water's shimmering and tinged a light pink. Gabriel doesn't know if that's Hanzo's blood coloring the water, or something Ana added to it, but it’s probably magic water either way.

"Gabriel," Ana says without looking up. "Come watch, I want you to see this."

Without seeing a reason not to, Gabriel walks over. He carefully avoids brushing his head against any of the hanging plants from the ceiling, a few he _definitely_ thinks are magical looking, and goes to watch over Ana's shoulder.

Her hands are still gripping Hanzo's, but the wound is clean. It wasn't that deep, but it did cut all the way across the palm of his hand, and Gabriel thinks sympathetically that it must at least sting like a bitch.

"This is one of my gifts," she begins, "and while it may not seem so impressive on such a minor wound..." Hanzo snorts, but Ana ignores him. "It’s nothing short of amazing." She says, her voice sanguine.

Before Gabriel can ask what she means, she moves to completely cover Hanzo's hand with her own. Ana closes her eyes for a second as her hands begin to glow a soft white light. She hums as she makes quick work, gently gripping Hanzo's hand in various places as the light then begins to fade.

Gabriel's entranced with what he sees, and finds his eyes opening even wider when Ana reveals Hanzo's palm.

It's completely healed, no scar, like there was never a wound there to begin with. And it all took less than 30 seconds.

Hanzo takes his hand back, flexing his grip open and closed a few times before he moves to stand. "Thank you, Ana." He says softly, and Gabriel's taken back when there's a small smile on his face. He gets up from the table and he walks out from the room, completely silent, like he was a ghost.

Creepy.

"Holy shit." Gabriel ends up cleverly saying. "That's awesome." Looking at Ana he smiles back when she grins.

"Thank you." She replies. "It's a useful trick, no?"

"Very useful." He agrees. He thinks back to that strawberry plant that's probably still on the floor, and slowly shakes his head; he still couldn’t believe this.

Magic was _amazing_.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel meets Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there, just wanted to point out i've upped the rating and added some extra tags. i'll put the required warnings on the individual chapters when they're applicable, don't worry! thanks for reading!

Ana and Gabriel exchange only a couple of more words before they're interrupted by a commotion coming from the front of the house. The front door swings open with a bang and Gabriel can already hear Jesse greet whoever's arrived.

Gabriel's heart beats faster, he has a good idea on who that could be.

Ana comes to the same realization as him, and she quickly jumps up from her seat. "Fantastic, they're home early. Gabriel, come meet them!" She exclaims excitedly as she makes her way across the room and out the door.

Gabriel wants to argue, somehow find a way out of meeting them. He's still in sweats, his hair's a mess, and he regrets not finding a way to brush his teeth this morning.

It’s ridiculous, he feels like a fucking teenager, but he can't think of the last time he gave a shit about first impressions.

 _C'mon, Reyes, get it together. You'd have to do a shitton more than that to make a good first impression to someone who is an apparent_ wizard.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriel centers himself. From the sounds of happy voices and laughter he hears immediately after, Gabriel can only guess that Ana’s been finally reunited with her daughter.

He pokes his head out, watching the scene developing at the front door. Ana's holding a young girl close, her arms wrapped tightly around the girl's shoulders in a hug. Ana’s checking the girl over, like she’s making sure her daughter is still in all one piece, the girl shying away playfully from her mother’s ministrations.

There's a new man with them now, his back facing towards Gabriel. He stares inquisitively at the man's particularly unique motorcycle jacket, the bold and bright design of the _76_ on his back a perplexes him at bit. Bit of an eyesore, but that’s probably the point.

He finally strides out from the doorway and moves towards the opening leading to the entry. Leaning against the archway connecting the hallway to the room, he tries to get a better look at the man who could only be _Jack_.

He has broad shoulders with his narrow hips give him a tapered _Captain America_ like silhouette, and Gabriel is very appreciative of it. His jacket is hugging his biceps and the subtle stretch at his shoulders suggest he’s at least built like Gabriel. He's as tall as Gabriel, too, his long legs giving him most of his height. The man's ass is kind of flat, and he tries to not let that disappoint him, but he thinks he'll get over it as he watches Jack bend over to pick something up off the floor.

He has _very_ nice legs; the fabric of his jeans stretches nicely over his calves. A runner, maybe?

He's still staring as Jack finally, _finally_ turns to look at him. Yeah, Ana was right, he was still _very_ handsome. There's a few creases at his eyes that weren't there in the photo he saw earlier, and the silver wireframe glasses perched on his nose are new, but from the way Gabriel's heart skips a beat when they meet eye to eye, he thinks he might like Jack with them even more. His hair is as blonde as it was in the photo, but with a few hits of white at his temples. His eyebrows are high on his forehead, caught off-guard seeing Gabriel standing there.

"Hey." He says, catching the attention of Ana as well.

"I—" Jack starts, but Ana quickly beats him to it.

"Oh, Jack, meet our guest!" She lets go of the girl, Fareeha, who then takes this moment to bolt out of sight, probably to her own room. It’s what Gabriel would’ve done when he was 16.

Ana goes to stand next to Jack, placing a placating hand on his arm. "His gift awoken in him earlier the other day, and then by chance he found his way to us."

Jack turns to blink at Ana. "Gift?" He asks dubiously, and Gabriel has a hard time not injecting that they don’t need to talk about him like he's not here.

"Yes, his gift!" Ana reiterated. "Now don’t be rude, introduce yourself!" She gives a shove against Jack's shoulder to push him towards Gabriel, and he moves along with it.

"Um, oh." Jack says, sounding unsure of himself. Gabriel observes Jack taking a good look at him, and Gabriel really wishes he took the time to wash his other clothes before this. While a tee and sweats are a common enough in his own ensemble, it still doesn't help that these _aren't his clothes_.

Jack licks his lips as he gives Gabriel another once over, and he tries very hard to not associate that with anything resembling approval.

Jack still doesn't say anything, looking a bit bedazzled still, so Gabriel sticks his hand out to him to shake. "Gabriel Reyes, recently introduced to all things magic." He says, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. He’s not nervous, and he doesn’t want to give Jack the impression that he is.

It takes a moment, but Jack's brain catches up to him and he takes Gabriel's hand and shakes. His grip is nice, firm, and Gabriel doesn't try to associate _that_ with anything else.

"Jack Morrison, it's a pleasure to meet you." Jack finally gets out, giving him a shy smile, his ears and nose now flushing a deep red.

Gabriel smirks, trying to not feel so self-satisfied at Jack's reaction, and lets his hand fall back down to his side as Jack goes to grab one of his bags off the floor. Hefting it up onto his shoulder, he turns to face Jesse and Hanzo, who are sitting on the loveseat together in the living room, Jesse’s arm laying across behind Hanzo’s shoulders. "Start unpacking the truck, will you?" Jack asks them, but said with enough command in his voice to leave out any room to argue.

Jesse gives a lazy salute with his other hand as he moves to get up, with Hanzo close behind. Jesse places a hand on Hanzo's back as they walk out through the front door, _“Hanzo ain't my boyfriend” my ass_ , and Gabriel now sees the blue truck that's parked in front of the house.

Jack nods his head at them curtly as he brushes past Gabriel and ascends up the stairs, Gabriel watching Jack’s legs and ass out of the cover of eye as he leaves.

Gabriel makes a face when it's just him and Ana alone once again, not liking Ana’s glint in her eye.

"So, that's Jack." Ana mischievously says as she takes a step towards Gabriel. Gabriel makes a point to not move as she stands closer to him.

"That's Jack," he agrees.

He tries to ramp up his glare ten-fold as Ana stands directly in front of him, looking smug like the cat that ate the canary. She's not swayed by his imposing look, however, and goes to reach out at Gabriel's shirt that’s stretched across his stomach, giving it a brief tug as it snaps back taut against his body.

"The clothes you were wearing before are clean, by the way. I had Jesse wash them before they left; they're on the dryer."

This makes Gabriel blink bewilderedly down at the top of her head. He could have been wearing his own clothes _hours_ ago? "What the hell, Ana?"

"What?" She chuckles, and Gabriel's decided he does not like whatever Ana has in mind. "Jack's been driving with my teenage daughter tirelessly for two days, he deserves something nice to see when he comes home, don't you think?" She smirks at him again, and he's sure if she didn’t only have one eye, she would wink at him.

"I'll prepare the extra guest room for you to sleep in tonight, since Jack's home and will be wanting to take his bed back, you understand." She laughs again, like she was in on a joke only she knew. She lightly pats her hand against Gabriel's chest before making her way upstairs herself.

Gabriel groans at the absurdity of all this, taking a moment to stand there alone and think about all the shit that happened to get him to this weird moment.

As everyone else in the house goes about their own business, he goes to find the laundry room, and like Ana had said his clothes, even his socks, are sitting on top of the dryer haphazardly in a pile.

He shuts the door behind him as he quickly shucks off the sweats to finally get his boxer briefs back on. It was novel for a minute, but being constantly conscious of where his dick was hanging in his pants was starting to get old.

Next is his hoodie, and he feels so much fucking better when he finally has it on. He zips it all the way up to his neck, and just appreciates the comfort it gives him. He then decides fuck it, and just puts the sweats back on anyway. It's already dark outside, it doesn't really matter if he continues to wear them until he leaves tomorrow.

Hopefully.

Last is his beanie and finally, _finally_ , Gabriel doesn't feel so vulnerable anymore. It's not a feeling he likes, and he's glad to combat against it anyway he can. It's a bit sad how much normalcy a _beanie_ gives him, but it's exactly what he needs right now.

With the rest of this clothes in hand, Gabriel leaves the laundry room and spots Ana waiting for him at the end of the hall. "Gabriel! I've made you a room for tonight. This one doesn't have a private bath, I'm sorry to say." She grins at him as she leads Gabriel into the room at the very end of the hall.

It's a nice enough room, he supposes. Bare in its decorations, unlike the rest of his house, but it'll serve its purpose as a guest room. The bed's placed center on the far wall of the room, with two bare nightstands on either side of it. There's a chair below the window, but that's about it.

There's not even a _plant_ in it.

"There's a bathroom near the other end of the hall, across from the laundry room." Ana tells him. "I know it's getting late, but we're all sitting in the living room if you would like to join us?" Ana says, her voice hopeful, but Gabriel's honestly not feeling up to it.

"Nah," He tells her. "I'm pretty wiped, I'll probably just turn in for the night."

Ana tries to hide her disappointment, but she nods, understanding. "Very well. I will see you in the morning, then."

He nods, and tries to give her a reassuring smile, but he's not sure it came across anything remotely like it. Despite this, Ana smiles when she says a quiet _"good-night"_ as she closes the door behind her.

Throwing his extra clothes onto the chair, Gabriel flops down onto the bed and maneuvers himself under the covers. He's exhausted mentally and physically, and out like a light as soon as his head hits the pillow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack comes home, finally, and tries to make sense of what occurred when he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you live in bakersfield, i'm sorry i'm dragging your city so much, but you guys have a street named after the band korn so i feel less bad doing it. anyway, now we get inside jack's head a bit this chapter, enjoy!

Jack’s sitting on the couch as he fidgets with the newspaper he bought at the gas station they fueled up at before he and Fareeha left Bakersfield. There’s nothing interesting written in it, Bakersfield was kind of an uninteresting place, but Jack figured someone would at least do the crossword if he brought it back with them.

Now, Jack’s just thankful he has something to do with his hands now, since he has all this nervous energy that he can’t seem to shake.

God, it’s so stupid, but Jack can’t help but to chastise himself. There’s nothing he’s more sure of than how much he hates feeling stupid in front of strangers he’d just met. Ana told him that there was a guest in the house, someone _special_ , she had said.

Yeah, someone special, alright.

Jesse’s lounging on the loveseat, Hanzo already retiring back to his and Genji's shared room for the night. He’s too tall to comfortably lay on it, so his legs are draped over one of the arms as he watches some movie on TV. The volume is muted and the closed captions are on, but Jack isn’t in the right space of mind to pay attention to anything happening on the screen.

Jack was very… _s_ _urprised_ when Ana dragged him back outside and told him all about Gabriel, the man they found in the woods.

They’re 30 miles any way from civilization, it’s incredibly hard to just _find_ yourself out here. It was kind of the whole point why they were out here in the first place.

If that wasn’t wild enough, Ana told him that the man also had an incredible gift: _teleportation_.

Teleportation was a hell of a skill for any magic user to learn on their own. It requires trusting your magic to be able to safely move you from one place and gently set you down in another, every single time. They’re told stories of wizards and witches practicing the art of teleporting only to tear themselves asunder as the magic breaks them down and but doesn’t put them back together again. It typically puts off any young apprentices from pursuing it as a study, making it a rarity among any magical group.

As far as Jack knows, just waking up one day and already being a master at teleporting yourself miles away from your home is _completely_ unheard of.

But, as Jack knows quite personally, anything was possible.

All humans are born with the capability to wield magic, but it can be incredibly difficult to uncover if someone is completely ignorant to its existence. Some are born already fully realized, _awakened_ as Ana likes to call it, but Jack wasn’t; he simply had to learn it like it was any other skill.

Most of his earliest childhood memories are of his parents teaching him basic concepts of magic, exposing him to their own magic to give him a jump start for his. This gave him the chance to develop his most basic magical skills _years_ before if he had come into them naturally on his own, similar to how Jesse had, though shapeshifters develop a bit differently. 

Typically the older you are, the more difficult this magical realization is. It still took several years before Jack was truly _awakened_ , so for someone to suddenly come into their own powers on accident, and as an already grown adult, is interesting to say the least.

He’s not sure what he thinks of this man, Gabriel. He didn’t make an ideal first impression, internally he winces remembering how he completely clammed up when he saw the other man. He didn’t know what it was about his unimpressed stare and bored tone that had him falling over himself, but there was something about it that just made Jack feel dumb, standing there like an idiot and acting like he didn’t even know how to introduce himself.

He sighs, gutturally and loudly, completely exhausted after today. Bakersfield made Jack miss Indiana, and he still feels the dust and dirt in his lungs from breathing in the air. He wishes Ana sold her potions to a distributor somewhere like in LA, or for Torbjörn to get some sense and move literally _anywhere_ else.

Jesse snorts from the loveseat, his hat is shielding his eyes as his fingers are interlaced and resting on top of his stomach.

“Interesting day, huh, Morrison?” Jesse drawls smoothly, eyes still glued the muted television.

“You can say that.” Jack murmured. Shocking, confusing, exhausting; those are all words he’d use to describe today.

Ana takes this moment to finally make her way out into the living room, her stride as powerful and self-assured as it was 20 years ago. She’s alone as she walks in, much to Jack’s immediate relief.

She looks tired, similarly to Jack. She's standing behind her favorite chair, a crimson recliner that she gotten when Fareeha was still a baby. It’s busted and faded, but Ana still can not be convinced to replace it.

She watches the screen for a brief moment, the white light from the TV washes the color from her face out, making her look older. ”Jack,” she says, tucking a loose piece of her hair back into her hijab as she addresses him. “Join me out front, will you?”

Jack nods once, moving to stand up as Jesse pipes up with a drawl, “What, got somethin’ to talk about that little ol’ me can’t hear?”

“Shush, Jesse, the adults are talking now.” Ana says seriously, but her smile gives away her amusement. She’s always had such a soft spot for Jesse.

She waits until Jack’s up completely before leaving the living room, going through the front door and onto the porch. Jack closes the door behind him, shuddering a bit as they step out into the cool air.

The last of rays of the sunset are fading over the horizon now, painting the night sky a beautiful gradient of blues and magentas. It’s truly beautiful where they are, the lack of light pollution from their isolation allows them to see the swath of stars dotting the skies above them.

Jack’s never paid much attention to the constellations before; he assumed them to just be random and have no impact on him whatsoever, plus he’s always found astrology kinda batty, but he wishes he knew how to identify more of them. Maybe the stars did have all the answers to his questions but he was just too stubborn to look.

Ana’s looking at the stars, too. A small smile grows across her face, her eye sparkling as it reflects the shimmering lights from above. It reminds him of when they were younger and wanted to see the world; it already feels like a lifetime ago.

“What are you thinking about?” Jack quietly asks her. She doesn’t reply immediately, moving to lean on the guardrail as she continues to look at the sky.

“About how curious the universe is, almost making us drawn to one another.”

Jack tilts his head inquisitively at her. “What do you mean?”

“Gabriel.” She says. “He was incredibly fortunate it was Jesse who found him. It could’ve been just as easily for something malicious to find him instead, I believe we’ll have a bigger lycanthrope problem this summer than usual.”

Jack hums, lycanthropes were a problem every year. “So, we’re going to make a habit of taking in every wayward soul Jesse stumbles upon, then?”

Ana gives him a look from over her shoulder. “Very empathetic, Jack. You used to not be so reserved about helping people in need before.”

Jack snorts sarcastically, “Sure, because people who can teleport from LA to the middle of the Los Padres clearly need help from the likes of us.”

Ana narrows her eye at him, as if she’s trying to see past all his bullshit and directly into his core, like it'll reveal his true form and all his intentions will be made clear. “Does Gabriel make you uncomfortable?”

“No.” Jack says a beat too quickly, hanging his head down in shame as he moves back to lean against the house, trying to hide his face so Ana can’t notice how red it is. The only lights around them are the stars above, but Jack doesn’t want Ana looking directly at him anyway as he speaks.

“I’m not uncomfortable, but this all kind of crazy, isn’t? I mean, people don’t just wake up one day being able to _teleport_.”

“No,” Ana agrees, saying the word slowly, “but magic is force with a mind of its own, you know that. Sure, this is _unusual_ , but you’re kind of an anomaly yourself, aren’t you?”

“That’s different.” Jack tries to argue, his shoulders tensing even more than were before. “You _know_ that. Plus, I’ve been exposed to magic my entire life, so it's more expected. I did not just wake up one day being able to heal like _Wolverine_ after living my life completely normal, Ana. Something _forced_ this in him.”

He shoves his hands into his jacket’s pockets as he faces away from Ana, fists clenched so tight that his knuckles are turning white. He pushes his nails into the palm of his hand, and it helps ground him a little bit.

“We’re all surrounded by magic, Jack, that’s just how the world works.” Ana informs him. “Maybe someone, or some _thing_ , forcefully awakened him, but that doesn't mean we can jump to conclusions.”

Jack bristles, he already considered an unknown entity or being might be at play here. Things outside of Jack's, or really anyone's, realm of understanding affect their world in weird and unprecedented ways, and something similar may have happened to Gabriel. “If that’s the case, then he’s _dangerous_ , Ana. If he’s out here for some unspeakable divine being’s will, then we have no clue what he’s even capable of.”

“He’s not possessed, Jack!” Ana shoots back, her voice rising higher in pitch as she speaks. “Should we have just left him to die out there?”

“No!” Jack objects. “But there’s a lot of evil shit out there that would _love_ to try to hurt people like _us_ , and I don’t want to take any risks bring them into our home!”

Ana goes silent, staring off intently into the deep black of the forest around them. Her shoulders are tense, as are her hands gripping the guardrail. The only sounds for several minutes is their breathing, along with the scratching of Ana’s nails chipping paint off the wood rail.

Jack looks away, his face floods with shame. He didn’t want to upset Ana, he knows she has a hard time when Fareeha was away from her, even when she was just with him. She’s just trying to help someone, for God’s sake, and he had to turn it around into a negative just because of his own twisted emotions.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he sighs. “I’m sorry, Ana.”

She scoffs, but it’s not unkind. “What are you sorry for? You didn’t say anything that couldn’t be true.” She calmly states.

He shrugs, the leather of his jacket rubbing against the side of the house, making a scratching sound that has him wince. “You know him better than I do, so if you trust him, Ana, then all I can do is trust him, too. I’m just…” He trails off, not really knowing why he’s acting like this in the first place. Maybe he’s just tired.

“Concerned?” Ana helpfully interjects when Jack doesn’t finish his thought. “Anxious, scared, a bit of a control freak?” She continues to tease, making Jack roll his eyes at her barbs.

“No?” She carries on when Jack doesn’t respond. “Or are you just all hot and bothered that there was a handsome man in your bed and you missed it?”

This makes Jack let out a surprised guffaw, covering his mouth as he feels the tips of his ears start to heat up in embarrassment. Jack kind of hates how well Ana can read him, and how it’s been her own personal project to play matchmaker with him for the last 20 years he’s known her. She’s worse than his own grandmother, who’s long since given up asking Jack if he’s has anyone special in his life yet, though Ana's intentions were less wholesome than his grandmother's own kind concern for his happiness.

Jack doesn’t _like_ being single, per se, but dating is so out of his realm that he’s grown used it. It’s not that he’s alone, anyhow. Even if Ana and Reinhardt did end up finally getting married it’s not like they would kick Jack out of the house, he’s on the metaphorical lease after all.

“Oh, yeah,” he tries to say as coolly as he can manage, hopefully not giving Ana ammunition knowing how much thinking about Gabriel actually being in his bed makes him feel. “Just because you’re bored while Reinhardt’s in Germany doesn’t mean you can go putting strange men in my bed, Ana.”

“And why not?” Ana huffs playfully as she defiantly puts her hands on her hips. “It’s not like you’re going to get someone else in it on your own.”

“I don’t think dumping an unconscious man in my bed counts.” Jack points out, trying to keep a straight face as Ana pouts comically. “I don’t think the guy even likes me, Ana.”

Ana scoffs, like what Jack just said was absurd, and crosses her arms over her chest. “You didn’t see how he looked at your graduation photo, Jack. I believe he would be _very_ interested in getting to know you.”

“Physical attraction does not indicate any desire for any type of relationship, romantic or otherwise.” Jack intoned, but his heart beats faster at the implication of Gabriel being attracted to him anyway. “Besides, my good looks have run out already, and that photo was over 15 years ago. I don’t look like that Jack anymore.” He deflates a bit as he self-consciously runs his hand through his hair, noticeably thinner and a bit whiter than it was when that picture was taken. He’s lucky, he guesses, since his dad was almost completely white before he even turned 45. He may not be as handsome as he once was, but he at least hopes he’s gained some wisdom as compensation, and that has to count for something, right?

“Hey,” Ana says softly and suddenly in front him, as Jack didn’t notice her moving in front of him. He’s a little over a head taller than her, and he cranes his neck down so he’s still able to look at her face. She gives him a warm genuine smile as she rests her hand against the side of his jaw, tenderly rubbing smooth circles on it with her thumb. The action so maternal that Jack can’t help but to suck in a shuddering breath, as he's reminded of what his mother used to do when she was still alive.

“Just because we are no longer in our glory days, that does not mean we are not still incredible. _You_ are incredible, and anyone would be lucky to have you, whether or not we found them in the woods before hand.” Jack lets out a quiet chuckle at that, but Ana continues on in her low voice. “You are worth so much more than you believe you are, Jack Morrison, and I pray that one day you’ll see yourself as the rest of the world sees you.”

Jack has to quickly turn his head away and rubs at his eyes, feeling the stinging sensation of unshed tears threatening to fall. He doesn’t want to cry, not over something petty as being self-conscious over aging, but Ana always brought out the crybaby in him.

They stand there silently for a few more minutes, taking in the ambient sounds of the woods around mix in with Jack’s gentle hitches of breath. He finally gains some of his composure back when his weeping turns into sniffles and his shoulders cease to shake. He lets out a deep, raspy sigh that comes right from his very core, and opens his eyes to look back at Ana.

“I think it’s time we go to inside, Jack.” Ana suggests when Jack slumps back against the wall, and he can’t help but agree.

They make it back inside the house, the ground floor completely dark as it appears that Jesse’s already gone to bed. Ana’s bedroom is located on the first floor, but before they make their way to their respective rooms, Ana wraps her arms around Jack’s waist, giving him an affectionate embrace that he returns just as sincerely.

“Good-night, Jack.” Ana says into the leather of his jacket, giving him a final pat on his back as she moves to let him go. He nods once, not wanting to trust his voice right now, but he still smiles back at Ana when she goes to walk back towards her bedroom. He watches her go until she turns the corner and out of his sight.

He exhales deeply again as he makes his own way up the stairs and into his bedroom. It’s the same as he’s left it only a couple of days ago, the large space still feeling like it’s too much room for him to live in alone. His overnight bags are still where he dumped them in a clumsy pile on the floor, a simple backpack and duffle, and Jack bends over to pick through both of them to get all the supplies he needs to go to bed.

After he changes into pajamas and brushes his teeth, pointedly avoiding his gaze in the mirror as he does so, does Jack finally fall face first into his bed.

The familiarity of it gives him comfort, the bed in the motel he and Fareeha stayed at wasn’t as comfortable as his own mattress. He notes that his sheets have been changed, and he decides that it must’ve been Jesse’s doing.

Shuffling himself around a bit, Jack gets himself under the blankets, snuggling himself down into the pillows and wrapping himself up in his grandmother’s quilt like he used to do when he was little and over-simulated.

He finally closes his tired eyes, the simple act of keeping them open wasn’t bearable any longer.

He dreams of his mother, and then of a man alone in the forest. Then he dreams of nothing at all.


End file.
